CELTIC SEAS PARTNERSHIP

The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly will develop a strategic management framework and stakeholder engagement model for Dublin Bay in 2015/2016. This work forms part of a wider EU Life+ project titled the Celtic Seas Partnership, a transboundary partnership of maritime experts and organisations who are seeking to assist the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) across the Celtic Seas. This project has relevance to various stakeholder groupings, including local and regional authorities nationally, as it addresses a wide variety of a marine and coastal issues of current and upcoming relevance.

Our key objectives

To create a framework for strategic management of Dublin Bay which supports implementation of MSFD and can be transferred for use across other bays, estuaries or coastal units in Ireland and the EU.

To develop an inclusive decision-making and planning framework for coastal communities which is in keeping with integrated coastal management principles and the ecosystem based approach.

To develop guidelines, to better coordinate terrestrial and marine planning, which are a) complementary to existing and emerging legislation and policy steer in this area and b) help maximise limited resources in this subject area of increasing socio-economic and environmental importance.

This work affords stakeholders in Ireland and across Dublin the opportunity to liaise with and share best practice through the Celtic Seas Partnership which is a research groups consisting of maritime planning experts from across Ireland, the UK and France and organisations such as the WWF, University of Liverpool, National Environment Research Council (UK) Marine and Renewable Energy Institute in UCC (Irl), and SeaWeb (France & UK).

The end of 2012 saw the successful completion of the WWF UK led LIFE+ PISCES project. PISCES brought together key marine stakeholders
to consider how to implement the ecosystem approach in the Celtic Sea. Through the project stakeholders worked together to produce a highly-praised practical guide for implementing the ecosystem approach through marine policy, with particular focus on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

The Celtic Seas Partnership follows on from the success of PISCES, building on the stakeholder momentum that was generated and the key project outputs. It operates on a greater scale than PISCES as it covers the Celtic Seas and not just the Celtic Sea. Yes, there is a difference, although the almost identical names do cause a little confusion. The Celtic Seas includes the Celtic Sea but also expands to cover a much bigger geographical area.

The project will:
• develop innovative and collaborative ways of working to feed into the Marine Strategy Framework Directive consultation process in France, Ireland and the United Kingdom
• build understanding of the ecosystem approach to marine management

For further information on how you can get involved and on progress to date please email Travis O’Doherty, Project Officer for Dublin Bay on todoherty@emra.ie or csp@wwf.org.uk for information on the wider Celtic Seas Partnership.

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.